By David Winning

SYDNEY--Woodside Petroleum Ltd. was driven to a deep annual loss by impairments of assets in the middle of its fiscal year as low energy prices and the coronavirus pandemic caused widespread pain across the oil and gas sector.

Woodside reported a net loss of US$4.03 billion for the 12 months through December, compared to a profit of US$343 million in 2019. The result included US$3.92 billion of impairments taken mid-year against assets from Australia to Senegal, including a writedown of the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project, and reflects the company's reduced assumptions for oil prices.

Annual underlying earnings, which strip out one-off items, totaled US$447 million. Directors of the company declared a final dividend of 12 U.S. cents a share, bringing the full-year payout to 38 U.S. cents a share.

Still, there are growing signs that Woodside has turned a corner, along with other major energy producers that were bruised by last year's oil-price rout when Saudi Arabia and Russia sparred for market share.

The price of Brent crude oil rose to a new 52-week high of US$64.34 a barrel on Wednesday, while spot LNG prices are also sharply higher this year. That has fueled speculation that Woodside will proceed with a final investment decision on projects key to the energy company's growth.

Woodside aims to make a decision on whether to proceed with a development of the Scarborough natural gas field offshore Western Australia and an expansion of its existing Pluto LNG export facility in the second half of this year.

The Perth-based company has secured long-term customers for around 50% of its share of Scarborough's LNG production, most recently with an expanded gas supply deal with Uniper Global Commodities SE.

Woodside produced 100.3 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2020, up 12% on the previous year. However, that is expected to fall back to 90 million-95 million barrels of oil equivalent this year as the company carries out maintenance at the North West Shelf gas-export project.

"The outstanding performance of our base business in 2020 was reflected in our low unit production cost of US$4.8 per barrel of oil equivalent and the high reliability of our operated LNG facilities," said Chief Executive Peter Coleman, who is due to retire from this year after more than 10 years at the helm.

Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-17-21 1709ET